WKU vs. Memphis, 2016 Boca Raton Bowl final score: Hilltoppers drop 51 on Tigers in win

Both sides are right. Bowls are a cynical money-making exercise, an excuse for ESPN inventory, and an outdated way for all the wrong people to maintain some semblance of control over college football. They’re also happy, bonus football.

We are at both extremes in 2016. We once again had 80 bowl bids to give out and fewer than 80 bowl-eligible teams, a sure sign of bloat and excess. We’re also loaded with perhaps more interesting bowl matchups than we’ve ever seen.

Bowl games are good. There are too many of them. Both things are true.

We’re holding steady at 41 on this year’s schedule, counting the National Championship, and again have multiple 5-7 teams that made it in because we ran out of 6-6 teams (Mississippi State and North Texas this time).

With a 28-17 lead over Memphis in the Boca Raton Bowl and just over 30 seconds to play in the first half, Western Kentucky looked like it would just do a kneeldown play and take things into the locker room. Instead, it did this.

This is yet another example of the Little Giants play that South Dakota State ran just a couple of weeks ago in its FCS Playoff loss to North Dakota State. It works like this.

Coach, we need to talk.

Former Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Sanford was recently hired as the Hilltoppers’ head football coach. That came with its fair share of congratulatory messages.

Western Kentucky headed into Tuesday’s Boca Raton Bowl ranked 14th in S&P+ for the season; the Hilltoppers were 11th in 2015. As Jeff Brohm’s tenure came to a close, they’d mastered the art of punching their weight. They were 1-4 against power conference opponents and 20-1 against Group-of-Five opposition.

Make that 21-1. Brohm took the Purdue head coaching job in December, but in their first post-Brohm contest, the Toppers looked the same. They overwhelmed Memphis, 51-31, gaining 598 yards (7.7 per play) via Anthony Wales’ legs, Mike White’s arm, and a little bit of trickeration. And while the Tigers got in some shots, WKU’s 10 tackles for loss, eight passes defensed, and a forced fumble created too many potholes to overcome.

All 6-4, 295 pounds of Forrest Lamp (yes, that’s his name) added some real fun to the Boca Raton Bowl proceedings when he scored this TD late in the first quarter.

Look at the deftness there to transition from blocker to finely tuned wider receiver. Lamp clearly has the full toolset of the consummate athlete.

Tuesday night isn’t a traditional football night, but it is this week. The Boca Raton Bowl will kick off on this non-traditional football night with a matchup between two of the better mid-major programs in the country. Points should be plentiful, so hopefully you’re interested in that sort of thing.

Western Kentucky has been maybe the best mid-major program in the country over the past two years under Jeff Brohm. They’ve blown the doors off Conference USA, and routinely put scares into power conference teams. That performance just earned Brohm the Purdue job, but the Hilltoppers are still dangerous without him.

All wagers at -110 odds unless otherwise noted. Visit Odds Shark for updated lines throughout each game week.

College football bowl games are a different beast for bettors. Sure, the typical handicapping elements apply. Offense and defense matter. But there are some key elements at play that don’t apply as much during the regular season.

College football’s bowl season is upon us. A full schedule is here.

There are 40 bowl games spread from Dec. 17 to Jan. 2, with the National Championship on Jan. 9. Unless you’re watching on multiple monitors and are really committed, you won’t catch all of them. (If that is your plan, more power to you.)

Purdue has its next head coach. The Boilermakers introduced Western Kentucky head coach Jeff Brohm on Monday, and he’ll take the same job in West Lafayette.

Brohm is 30-10 since taking over for mentor Bobby Petrino, including two straight Conference USA championships. A former Louisville, NFL, and XFL quarterback, he runs one of the country’s most innovative and devastating offensive systems and is regularly hailed a future coaching star. Baylor and Cincinnati were also interested in him.

Also, head over here for the fully updated bowl season calendar as it fills in, from the New Orleans Bowl through the Rose Bowl. We’ll also add picks, scores, and more to that calendar over time.

There’s a college football bowl game in Boca Raton, Fla. This’ll be the third year of the Boca Raton Bowl, the postseason contest most accessible to legions of folks who have retired to Florida and now reside in Boca and its surrounding areas.